557th Weather Wing

557th Weather Wing
Weather technician analyzes cloud bases for Southwest Asia at Offutt Air Force Base
Active	1943-
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Weather observation, reporting and analysis
Part of	Air Combat Command
Garrison/HQ	Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska
Motto(s)	Coelum Ad Proelium Elige Latin Choose the Weather for Battle
Commanders
Current commander	Col. William Carle
Insignia
557th Weather Wing emblem (Approved 8 September 1942)

The 557th Weather Wing is a United States Air Force formation and its lead military meteorology center. It delivers environmental situational awareness worldwide to the Air Force, the Army, joint warfighters, Unified Combatant Commands, the national intelligence community, and the Secretary of Defense. It is headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, near Omaha, Nebraska.

The wing fields weather equipment and training to Air Force operational weather squadrons, and weather flights in Operations Support Squadrons at locations around the world. It builds a comprehensive weather database of forecast, climatological, and space weather products.

The wing's mission is to exploit weather information to American military forces anytime and everywhere. It is assigned more than 1,800 active-duty, reserve, civilian and contract personnel and is headquartered on Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska with a $175 million annual budget. Weather forecasts are produced using numerical weather prediction software such as the Weather Research and Forecasting model and the Unified Model.

The 557th Weather Wing is organized into a headquarters element, consisting of staff agencies, two groups, three directorates, and five solar observatories.

The 1st Weather Group, with headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base, aligns stateside weather operations with the Air Force warfighting initiative overseeing Operational Weather Squadrons. Each of the squadrons produces forecasts for a specified area of the United States. The 15th Operational Weather Squadron, located at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is responsible for the Northern and Northeast United States; 25th Operational Weather Squadron, located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, is responsible for the Western United States; and 26th Operational Weather Squadron, located at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, is responsible for the Southern United States. The squadrons also serve as training hubs for new weather professionals — both enlisted and officers. The group equips weather professionals with the training and skills necessary to deliver environmental information for commanders and military decision makers.